Economic Census – 12

Non-Agricultural Enterprises By Economic Activities – Community, Social and Personal Services*

1. Introduction

            “Community, social and personal services” has been the third important economic activity among non-agricultural enterprises with about 15 per cent of the number of non-agricultural enterprises engaged in it as per different Economic Censuses. Six types of activities, namely, government services, public administration, defense, education, health, social and other personal activities are grouped under this category.

This note, the twelfth in the series of notes dealing in different aspects of data collected through Economic Censuses, mainly deals with information grouped under ‘community, social and personal services’ (CS & PS).

2. Limitations

1.      The Central Statistical Organisation has followed different National Industrial Classification (NIC) systems for grouping economic activities collected under different Economic Censuses over years. Thus, there can be some differences in the classification method used for grouping different economic activities of enterprises. However, these differences do not make any difference at the major group level.

2.       Each Economic Census has to be conducted in all states and UTs, but due to some unavoidable circumstances, EC 1980 did not cover Assam , and as EC 1990 was synchronized with the house-listing operation of decennial Population Census 1991which was not done in Jammu and Kashmir , the Economic Census 1990 also did not cover Jammu and Kashmir .

3. Community, Social and Personal Services: Definition and Coverage

All the information gathered under different economic activities identified as belonging to any of the six types cited above have been grouped under the said group ‘community, social and personal services’ (CP & PS). A broad list of such activities is presented in Table 1.

4.Growth of Enterprises Engaged in ‘Community, Social and Personal Services’

The number of enterprises engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ was 3.0 million in 1980. In the next 18-years, there was an addition of 3.5 million enterprises to reach 6.5 million in 1998, but it recorded a decline of 1.0 million enterprises in the next 7-years to dip to 5.4 million by 2005. At this level, the annual growth (CAGR) between 1980-2005 works out to be 2.4%. What is important is that while the enterprises engaged in all other economic activity groups registered smart pick up in their number between 1998 and 2005, in the case of ‘community, social and personal services’ there was a drastic reduction in the number of enterprises engaged in such activities during the7-year period. Actually, there was a negative annual growth rate of 2.5 % between EC-1998 and EC-2005 and even between EC-1990 and EC-1998 the growth rate was a measly 1.4%. This has happened after the smart pick up of growth witnessed between 1980 and 1990. Such long-term trend has been seen both among rural and urban enterprises engaged in community, social, and personal services.  The share of enterprises engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ in all non-agricultural enterprises though picked up in the intervening censuses, overall it has fallen from 17.7% in 1980 to 15.2% in 2005.

5.  Distribution of Own-Account Enterprises and Establishments with at least one Hired Worker Engaged in ‘Community, Social and Personal Services’

Among all enterprises engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’, the share of own-account enterprises has witnessed a long-term decline over different economic censuses. Thus their share has come down from about 45.4% in 1980 to 38.9% in 2005. The trend among rural and urban own-account enterprises engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ has been the same.

As against the above, establishments with at least one hired worker, which were engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ have risen from 54.6% in 1980 to 61.1% in 2005; such establishments in rural and urban areas have shown the same kind of trend.

6. Trends in Own-Account Enterprises Engaged in ‘Community, Social and Personal Services’

            As hinted at earlier the growth of own-account enterprises in CP&PS category has been meager. An addition of only 0.7 million own-account enterprises engaged in CP&PS has been witnessed during the entire 25-year period to reach 2.1 million in 2005. While own-account manufacturing enterprises in rural areas had risen by 0.4 million, that in urban areas had increased by 0.3 million during the 25-year period. There is a contrary trend in the share of own-account enterprises engaged in CS&PS conducting their business from rural and urban areas in that their share has moved in favour of urban areas. The annual growth rate (CAGR) had been low at 1.4% during the 25-year period, with the period 1998 and 2005 witnessing a negative growth rate both among rural and urban own-account enterprises engaged in CS&PS. The Share of own-account enterprises engaged in CS&PS in all own-account non-agricultural enterprises has witnessed a long-term decline though there has been a minor pick up between 1980 and 1990.

7. Trend in Establishment with Hired Workers Engaged in ‘Community, Social and Personal Services’

On the contrary, establishments with hired workers engaged in CS&PS have registered a continuing increase over different economic censuses. As a result, their number has risen from 1.6 million in 1980 to 3.3 million in 2005,  thus adding 1.7 million establishments during the 25-year period. While in rural areas, 1.1 million CS&PS establishments were added, in urban areas only 0.6 million establishments have been added during the 25-year period. However, the share of rural CS&PS establishments declined from 69.7% in 1980 to 66.6.0% in 2005 and that of urban areas correspondingly increased from 30.3 % in 1980 to 33.4% in 2005. The negative growth rate (CAGR) of 0.9% between 1998 and 2005 among urban CS&PS establishments brought down the overall growth rate to 1.7% during the period, even though there has been an annual growth of 3.2% among rural establishments. The share of CS&PS establishments in total non-agriculture enterprises after witnessing an increase from 9.7 % in 1980 to 11.8% in 1990, has steadily declined to 9.3% by 2005. The same trend had been witnessed when one considers the share of establishments with hired workers engaged in CS&PS in  all non-agricultural establishments with hired workers.

8. Directory and Non-Directory Establishments

Among 3.3 million establishments engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ in 2005, there were 2.7 million (80.5%) non-directory establishments and 0.6 million-directory establishments. As is known while non-directory establishments refer to establishments having hired workers employing less than 6 persons daily on a fairly regular basis, and directory establishments constitute the balance establishments with hired workers employing six or more persons on a similar basis.

          Though the number of both directory and non-directory establishments has registered increases over the seven-year period, their share in respective total non-agricultural enterprises registered declines over the years may be due to the comparative slower increase in the number of CS&PS establishments viz-a-viz non-agricultural enterprises. The fall in case of non-directory establishments engaged in CS&PS  in urban areas were steep i.e. from 23.1% in 1998 to 12.7% in 2005 and the annual growth rate (CAGR) among urban non-directory establishments engaged in these services were negative at 1.4%. However, the annual growth rate among rural non-directory establishments was appreciable at 3.1%. 

9. Selected Characteristics of Own-Account Enterprises Engaged in Community, Social and Personal Services

            As per EC-2005, out of 0.93 million seasonal non-agricultural enterprises in 2005, 62,000 enterprises forming about 6.7% were engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ (CS&PS).  However, such seasonal enterprises had declined to 62,000 enterprises by 2005, after increasing to 1,25,000 enterprises in 1998 from 90,000 enterprises in 1990.

This rend has been seen even in perennial own account enterprises engaged in CS&PS, which fell from 3.0 million enterprises in 1990 to 2.0 million enterprises in 2005.

There were 4.8 million non-agricultural own-account enterprises which were operating without premises in 2005, out of which 0.37 million own account enterprises were engaged in CS&PS and they form about 7.6 per cent of the total own-account non-agricultural enterprises.      As many as 1.7 million own-account enterprises engaged in these services has been operating without using power or fuel in 2005, a decline of 1.0 million own-account enterprises occupied with such services.

10. Selected Characteristics of Establishments with Hired Workers Engaged in ‘Community, Social and Personal Services’

            According to EC-2005, out of 483,000 seasonal non-agricultural establishments, seasonal establishments with hired workers engaged in community, social and personal services at 33,000 forms 6.8%.  The number of seasonal establishments with hired workers engaged in community, social and personal services has increased from 42,000 in 1980 to 63,000 in 1998 and then slipped to 33,000 by 2005.

As against this number of establishments with hired workers busy with community, social and personal services operating throughout the year has witnessed an addition of 0.7 million establishments during the period. However, their share in total establishments with hired workers engaged in these services has witnessed a long-term downtrend (Table 8).

The proportion of CS&PS establishments with hired workers operating without premises to total non-agricultural establishments with hired workers registered a long-term down trend. Not much change has occurred in the number of establishments with hired workers engaged in CS&PS carrying out their activities without using power/fuel over the years.

11. Own-Account ‘Community, Social and Personal Services Enterprises’: Ownership By Social Groups

Consistent with the overall decline of own-account CS&PS enterprises over the years, such enterprises owned by lower social classes also witnessed a decline. Thus ST-owned ‘community, social and personal service’ own-account enterprises has declined from 56,000 in 1980 to 41,000 in 2005 after increasing to 95,000 in 1998. SC-owned own-account CS&PS enterprises have almost dwindled to half between 1990 and 2005; while these came down in absolute number came down to 1,83,000 in 2005 from 3,60,000 in 1990, the  number of own-account enterprises occupied in CS&PS category owned by OBC has also declined by 4.39 lakh enterprises between 1998 and 2005, but their share in all own-account enterprises engaged in CS&PS registered an increase from 35.6% in 1998 to 38.3% in 2005 in spite of a fall in their share in all non-agricultural own-account enterprises (Table 9).

12. Establishments with Hired Workers Engaged in ‘Community, Social and Personal Services: Ownership by Social Group

There have been 34,000 ‘community, social and personal service’ establishments with hired workers owned by STs in 2005 forming about 1.0% of total CS&PS establishments with hired workers and 11.2% of total non-agricultural  ST-owned establishment. Such establishments rose from 19,000 in 1990 to 34,000 in 2005 i.e., an addition of 15,000 during the 15-year period.  

            The number of SC-owned ‘community, social and personal service’ establishments with hired workers has gone up from 56,000 in 1990 to 88,000 by 2005

            OBC-owned ‘community, social and personal service’ establishments with hired workers has increased from 3.9 lakh in 1998 to 4.3 lakh in 2005. However, the share of such establishments owned by OBCs in total OBC-owned non-agricultural establishments with hired workers fell from 19.4% in 1998 to 10.4% in 2005.Still their share in total establishment with hired workers engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ were stable at about 13% both in 1998 and 2005.

12. Institutional Ownership of Enterprises in ‘ Community, Social and Personal Services

All enterprises are divided into own-account enterprises and establishment with hired workers. Own-account enterprises are usually household owned and are therefore privately owned. Private sector enterprises include not only family-owned enterprises but also establishments owned by private non-profit institutions, private unincorporated proprietorships, private unincorporated partnerships and private others. Public sector includes government and public sector units. The discussion in this sub-section is confined only to establishments with hired workers, as all own-account enterprises are privately owned by definition.

Out of the total 3.3 million establishments with hired workers engaged in community, social and personal services in 2005, about 48.4 % establishment were privately owned and the remaining 51.6% were in the public sector. It can be seen from the Table 11 that while the number of establishments with hired workers engaged in ‘community, social and personal services’ in the public sector has increased from 1.4 million in 1998 to 1.7 million in 2005, those in private sector have actually shrunk by 26,000 establishments from 1.63 million to 1.60 million. 

 * This note has been prepared by R.Krishnaswamy